Through a plethora of free articles,
we provide a useful guide for anyone who wants to use the power of storytelling
at home, at work and in the community.

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As all skilled professionals, professional storytellers make telling stories to an audience appear easy and fun. Perhaps you have attended a storytelling festival or concert and thought, "I could do that. I love telling stories!" Perhaps you already tell stories as a parent, scout leader, teacher, librarian, speaker, or business leader and are wondering how to take your storytelling to a professional level. Perhaps you didnt realize that there are professional storytellers making an excellent living doing what they do and loving every minute of it. In this article I will share ideas and excerpts from my e-book, How to Get Started as a Professional Storyteller

It is impossible to describe a typical, professional storyteller. Storytellers appear in all guises  a wide range of ages, shapes, sizes, and from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. They tell stories to all age groups from pre-school to senior citizens, with families in between. Storytellers tell (not read) a variety of stories from parables, to traditional folk and fairy tales, to urban tales, to personal stories, to original stories, to business stories.

As you become known as a storyteller in your area, you will start to get phone calls asking you to tell at various events, gatherings, schools, and libraries. You are eager to tell the stories you have been working on and delighted to get the phone calls. But, before you say yes, there are questions you should ask about the venues and once you are telling, there are other challenges that pop up and can destroy your performance. In this article, I discuss some of these common challenges.

Be sure to establish where you will be telling. I mentioned this in one of my earlier articles, but it is worth mentioning again. You will get many calls where the group calling wants you to tell stories outside or in a large open space  possibly at a fair or festival, at a busy shopping mall, a museum, or often around a campfire.

When I first discovered that there was such a job as storyteller, I was 30-something and enrolled in teacher school in St. Louis (home to a warm and wonderful group of tellers). As I finished my teaching degree, I focused more and more on classroom applications of storytelling and saw first-hand the results on student motivation and achievement. Before I even graduated I knew that storytelling was my calling.

SO I MADE A PLAN. Unlike many artists, I have a strong background in business planning. I knew that my bread and butter as a teller would come from schools and libraries, so it was important to finish my degree.(I later earned my masters in Reading  with an emphasis on the connection between oral language and the development of reading and writing skills).

When we know someones story, we cant help but like them. It doesnt matter what ethnic, cultural, or material differences we have, we all have stories in common. In days gone by, we sat on porches telling and listening to stories. We shared backyard picnics that were enhanced by the stories shared. Today, I dont see many people telling stories on their porches, which is a shame. But we can enliven our communities and neighborhoods by forming storytelling groups. Here are some suggestions:

Start with your neighborhood association or block club. If you belong to a community group, you can suggest that people who would like to listen to and tell stories come early.

When we are telling stories to a group, and especially as a newer storyteller, one of the most difficult techniques to master is the use of the pause. Even in everyday conversation, most people have a problem with silence. Somehow we feel we must always fill a space with words. And yet silence and a pause during the telling of a story not only enhances the audiences understanding of the story, it also builds anticipation. In this article I discuss the whys and how of using pauses to strengthen your storytelling.

Begin with silence. It takes guts to stand in front of an audience after being introduced without saying something immediately, but this can prove to be one of the strongest ways to get their attention and to create rapport.

The International Storytelling Center is the organization that has
been instrumental in the rebirth and resurgence of storytelling. The
newly opened Center in Jonesborough, TN outlines and shows the history.
They produce the annual Storytelling Festival.

This varied
site offers such features as Story of the Week articles in the Village
Post, books and tapes, the ability to search for storytellers and
events, plus games and a free web page for storytellers.

A national oral-history project that celebrates the lives of the uncelebrated
through their stories. The first story booth opened in Grand Central
Station on October 23, 2003 to record the stories of regular people.
You can also order story kits.

Their aim
is to give a voice to storytellers of the world. They give access
to storytelling resources, stories from Africa and Asia, tips for
storytellers, interviews with people who have amazing stories to tell,
information about paying markets and much more!

This fascinating
web site is dedicated to Multicultural Storytelling produced by the
Center for Sacred Storytelling. There is a streaming storytelling
link to give visitors a chance to hear some stories and also a link
to the Vedic Storytelling Institute.

Change That's Right Now can quickly and easily cure your fear of performing
in front of a crowd along with overcoming any other fears and phobias.

Hot News:

A brand new FREE eclectic e-newsletter, Career Success Planning, is on the way. I will be contacting former sbscribers to Portfolio Potpourri and all who have taken the Portfolio Career Self Test to subscribe to the new FREE e-newsletter. Use the form below to sign up!

Pete
Seeger's
Storytelling
Book
You can almost
hear the banjo
plucking away in the background as veteran singer-songwriter
Pete Seeger tells his folksy tales and shares his useful tips
on storytelling.